Centenary of British Commemorative Stamps
Royal Mail's next issue, due out on the 16th April 2024, "celebrates
100 years since the United Kingdom issued its first commemorative stamp in
1924".
At the risk of being labeled a pedant (and it wouldn't be this first
time) one could argue that since the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland didn't come into being until 1927 it can hardly claim
this anniversary as its own. But such is Royal Mail's ability to
warp the truth (along with its sister company - the Post Office) that mere
facts such as these can easily be swept under the carpet in the hope that
no one notices.
It is however, 100 year since the issue of a set of commemorative
stamps to mark the British Empire Exhibition, which took place at Wembley
Park in London in 1924/25. King George V was a keen stamp collector
but he was somewhat unsure about the idea of a commemorative stamp issue,
however, despite his initial reluctance the first British commemorative
set, with designs by Harold Nelson, was issued on 23 April 1924, the first
day of the exhibition.
In the early days, there were few commemorative issues. King George V
got a commemorative stamp set for his Silver Jubilee in 1935. Numbers of
commemoratives remained low in the 1950s, with only five issues. These
were produced to mark some of the major events of the decade, most notably
the Festival of Britain. The 1960s saw a marked change in stamp production
and a period of great expansion in designs and approaches especially
following the reforms to Commemorative Stamp issues initiated in 1964.
Today things have developed to a point where hardly any stamps are
issued to commemorate or mark worthwhile national events or anniversaries
with most such issues now falling into the category of "special
stamps", a term coined by Royal Mail to distinguish them from definitive
stamp issues, such as the recent Spice Girls issue!
Some senior stamp collectors may welcome this issue as a brief return
to a more familiar territory , however some may think that Royal Mail have
gone overboard in issuing another 10 x 1st class series when perhaps 4 would
have sufficed - but then it would have been difficult to fill a new
collector sheet with only 4 new designs......
GS-163
The ten new self-adhesive stamps incorporated in this
sheet design are the same ten designs as the normal issue printed in Litho
on gummed paper. As such, they will vary from the normal issue. The stamps
are attached to illustrated labels showing a hand-stamp from the time of
the stamp featured in the new design.
Other products include : Presentation Pack, First Day
Cover, Maxicards, and framed collectibles. The sheet will be available to
purchase from the 16th April via our eBay store (click on image above) as
are First Day Covers bearing these stamp/label combinations. (10/04)
Spice Up Your Life!
Royal Mail are celebrating the biggest girl group of all time – the
Spice Girls – on their 30th anniversary of their formation in 1994.
Music Giants IX is the first stamp issue for 2024 due out on 11th January.
The stamp issue comprises 10 x 1st class stamps, a mini sheet, comprising
a further 5 x 1st class stamp designs and a plethora of other collectibles
too large for me to do them justice in this column. Of specific interest
are two new collector sheets, the first includes all 10 x 1st class stamps from
the Music Giants IX issue, set against a colourful background and attached
to themed labels with further images of this successful girl band. The
second includes two sets of the 5 x 1st class stamps featured in the mini
sheet we are calling it the "the pink sheet"!!
GS-161
GS-162
As has been the practice of Royal Mail in similar media
based issues, the first of the two collector sheets is printed in Litho on self adhesive and thus the only
source of the self adhesive format stamps. The second sheet features
self adhesive stamps printed in Litho similar to those featured on the
mini sheet. The sheet stamps are issued in se-tenant
strips of 5 and on gummed paper. The above collector sheets are
now available to
order through our eBay store, if interested please click on the images
above to order. (06/01)
